Poojai Movie Review

Cast: Vishal, Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj, Raadika Sarath Kumar, Kausalya, Prathap Pothen, Manobala, Soori, Mukesh Tiwari, Jayaprakash, Andrea (Special Appearance) and others

Cinematography: Priyan

Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja 

Editing: VT Vijayan, TS Jai

Stunts: Kicha

PRO: Johnson

Written by: Hari, Shashank Vennelakanti

Directed by : Hari

Produced by: Vishal for Vishal Film Factory

Distribution: Vendhar Movies

Release Date: 22-10-2014 

Run Time: 02:40:00

Director Hari, known for his fast-paced, gripping, sometimes vacuous and sometimes smart screenwriting, has delivered a film which is more or less a botched up concoction of his filmography. His writing for most parts is so apparent and predictable in Poojai, which brings back Vishal on screen after his well-made previous film Naan Sigappu Manithan. 

Poojai has everything across genres – romance, comedy, sentiments, action and drama. The romance is underwhelming, action is mind-numbing but the drama and sentiments around the larger extended family have worked reasonably well – Hari’s forte.

Vaasu (Vishal), who plays a moneylender falls for the broad-minded Divya (Shruti Haasan) when she rejects a proposal by ‘assasinating her character’ so that the proposer would ignore her. Vaasu is in solitude away from his huge family because his mother (Raadika Sarathkumar) is angry with him because of a misunderstanding which resulted out of a family conflict. In one-line, Poojai’s story can be summarized as Vishal’s single-handed revenge against Mukesh Tiwari – who plays the antagonist – with occasional help from Sathyaraj, who appears in a toothless role as a stern and sincere cop.

The first half is filled with done-to-death romance tracks between Shruti Haasan and Vishal and establishes Mukesh Tiwari as a grudging villain. Then, the story picks up before interval when Vishal takes Mukesh Tiwari head-on and thereafter, the cliched cat-and-mouse race which you see in Hari’s films follows. The second half is loaded with too much melodrama and half-heartedly contrived scenes. It is weird that in a predominant action-based flick, comedy is the only saving grace. The comedy portions between Soori, Pandi and Imman Annanchi has come out despite makng inconspicuous references to Goudamani – Senthil.

Priyan’s cinematography moves along with the story and Kicha’s stunts are overtheatrical in most parts of the film. Yuvan Shankar Raja has done a good job in his limited scope of work. Shruti Haasan seems to be miscast for the role and Vishal, once again, as an angry young man and a responsible son, shines in his role.

Overall, Poojai is a no-holds-barred action drama let down by a predictable, unexciting writing.

Poojai Movie Review Rating:  2.5/5